Process for renovating used wool and cotton journal-box waste



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS M. LAWSON, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA.

No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THoMAs M. LAWSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Indianapolis, in the county of Marion and State of Indiana, have invented new and useful Improvements in Processes for Renovating Used Wool and Cotton Journal-Box Waste, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to reclaim used wool and cotton packing-waste used particularly in journal-boxes.

The used material to be reclaimed is gathered from various salvaging stations in a railway system to a recleaning plant, in barrels or other containers, and properly treated makes a better packing than is afforded from waste that has never been used for packing purposes, due perhaps to the fact that the use to which it has been subjected has forced lubricating oil into every particle of its fiber.

The material to be reclaimed is more or less stiff and ropey with oil hardened by exposure, the removal from it of the lighter oil portions, and the admixture with the remainder of fine metallic portions worn from the lubricated members. Metal pieces of appreciable size, sand, gravel, and other foreign bodies also get in.

The first step of my process is to divide the masses to be reclaimed as minutely as possible and remove the larger foreign bodies by hand picking then the remaining material is submerged in lubricating oil of commerce which has been previously heated and is then'at a temperature of between 90 and 170 F. the preferable temperature being 140 F. The submergence here referred to has usually been accomplished in a metal tank '14 feet long by 3% feet wide and about 2% feet deep, with the materials in the proportion of one thousand pounds of picked waste to from 100 to 200 pounds of commercial lubricating -oil. The old waste to be reclaimed has much oil hardened by exposure and use, and a considerable quantity of water. The old oil is softened by the hot oil in which the mass is submerged, and the submerged mass is stirred back and forth vigorously for from five to ten minutes and then is lifted out and placed upon a wire screen of about threequarter inch mesh, over a tank, into which the oil and water draining out falls and in which the oil is saved.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 21, 1920.

Application filed July 23, 1920. Serial No. 398,393.

The temperature of the room where the above is done should be maintained at from F. to 70 F. for the best results and the mass plled upon the iron screen allowed to remain for from 8 to 24 hours to undergo a sweat and afford time enough for the water to drain out and its place to be taken by the oil to maximum saturation and softening of the product. This cannot be accomplished hurriedly, but many barrels may be successively treated and piled to a depth of from one to six feet deep upon the screen, where volume of production is an item. The product during this time of saturation has also cooled to about the temperature of the room. It is then transferred to barrels where two or three bucketsful of cold commercial lubricating oil are poured over each barrelful of the waste-product. It is then ready for use and such quantity as may be needed from time to time is taken.

Not only is the lubrication better with this reclaimed product, but it requires less than one third of the amount of new lubricating oil that new waste would because of the utilization of the lubricating oil existing in the old product that is reclaimed.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and wish to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

1. The process of reclaiming old wool and cotton waste for packing, consisting in picking, loosening and cleaning the material to be reclaimed, subjecting it to a bath of lubricating oil at a temperature between 90 F. and 170 F. and draining.

2. The process of reclaiming old wool and cotton waste for packing, consisting in picking and sorting the material to be reclaimed, subjecting it to a bath of lubricating oil at a a temperature above 90 F., then draining,

and storing in the presence of cold fresh lubricating oil.

3. The process of reclaiming used wool and cotton waste for packing, consisting in hand-picking the used material, subjecting it to a bath of lubricating oil at a temperature above 90 F., draining in a temperature of approximately 70 F. until cooled to approximately the latter temperature, and storing in the presence of fresh lubricating oil of about the temperature of the dramed mass. I

4. The process of reclaiming used wool and cotton waste for packing, consisting in picking and loosening the used material,

subjecting to a bath of lubricating oil at a temperature above F., draining off the excess of oil and then storing in the presence of fresh lubricating oil of approximately the temperature of the drained mass;

5. The process of reclaiming used Wool and cotton Waste for packing, consisting in picking and loosening the used material and removing the heavy foreign matter, subjecting then to a bath of lubricating oil at a temperature approximating F., removing and draining for from 8 to 24 hours and then storng in the presence of oil at the temperature of atmosphere.

6. The process of reclaiming used WOOl and cotton Waste for packing, consisting in picking and loosening the used material and removing the heavier 'foreign matter therefrom, then stirring the product in a bath of lubricatingoil at a temperature between 90 F. and F., removing and draining on a screen for from 8 to 24 hours, then storing in barrels to which from one to three bucketsful of cold commercial lubricating oil has been added to each barrelful of the drained product.

Signed at Indianapolis, 21st day of July, 1920.

THOMAS M. LAWSON.

Indiana, this the 

